The Discovery of 'Vinland' according to the Old Icelandic "Eiriks Saga Rautha" and "Groenlendinga Thattr"

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1 Literary Onomastics Studies Volume 2 Article The Discovery of 'Vinland' according to the Old Icelandic "Eiriks Saga Rautha" and "Groenlendinga Thattr" Hilda Radzin Follow this and additional works at: Repository Citation Radzin, Hilda (1975) "The Discovery of 'Vinland' according to the Old Icelandic "Eiriks Saga Rautha" and "Groenlendinga Thattr"," Literary Onomastics Studies: Vol. 2, Article 12. Available at: This Conference Paper is brought to you for free and open access by Digital It has been accepted for inclusion in Literary Onomastics Studies by an authorized editor of Digital For more information, please contact kmyers@brockport.edu.

2 160 The Discovery of 11Vinland11 according to the Old Icelandic Eir{ks saga Rau a and Groenlendinga ttr Hi 1 da Radzi n I. A Survey of the Old Icelandic Language Iceland was settled by the Norsemen who came from Norway, starting about 875 A. D. In the early period, the Icelandic language was identical with the language of western Norway. The oldest forms of the Icelandic language are found in the tenth and eleventh century poetry. This po etry has been preserved in the thirteenth century records. Greenland was settled by Icelanders c. 990 A. D. As presented in the earliest Icelandic manuscripts (c A. D. ), the Old Icelandic language can already be distinguished from the Old Norwegian language. II. A Survey of Early Voyages by Icelanders The Icelanders of the old Commonwealth ( A. D. ) made many voyages. They went to Scandinavia and the British Isles, and visited Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, and Irish courts. They settled Greenland and made voyages to North America, returning to Iceland with tales of great men.

3 161 Radzin 2 The service of Icelanders as court poets extended all over the Scandinavian lands. In a limited way, the court poet was the historian of the country. III. A Survey of the Old Icelandic Sagas In the Old Icelandic language, the word saga is used with reference to any kind of story, or history, whether written, or oral. The names "Icelanders' Sagas.. and Family Sagas" are generally used with reference to heroes supposed to have lived in Iceland in the tenth and eleventh centuries. These sagas present the characters vividly and show understanding of human tragedy. Very few of these sagas were written down before the thirteenth century. Some scholars have stated that these sagas were composed as early as the eleventh century and transmitted orally until written down. While some Icelanders intended to present factual history in their poetic works, others relied more on their imagination.

4 162 Radzin 3 IV. The Discovery of "Vinland" according to the Old Icelandic Eir{ks saga Rau a and Groenl endinga P ttr The Eir1ks saga Rau a l (Saga of Eirik the Red) and the Groenlendinga Pattr 2 (Saga of the Greenlanders) are Old Icelandic family sagas. A great part of the events are set in the colony in Greenland. These sagas contain ta1es about adventurous voyages in Vinland (" Wineland" ), as the Icelanders called North America, and they differ considerably in the events they present. Rau a was considered to be more reliable. The Eiriks saga The results of modern research have tended to show that the Groenlendinga P&ttr is older. According to the Groenlendinga PAttr, Bjarni Herj61fsson sailed from Norway in 985 to join his father in Iceland. He found that Herjolf had sailed with Eirik the Red to Greenland. In 986, Bjarna, seeking to visit his father in the new colony, missed Greenland. He sighted two flat wooded areas of land. Without landing there, he returned to Greenland. In 1001 A.D, Eirik's son Leif purchased Bjarni1s

5 163 Radzin 4 ship. Then he went in search of the lands seen by Bjarni. He sailed west from Greenland and then from north to south. He discovered new land and called sections of it "Helluland" and 11Markland.11 Then he and his men sailed for two days until they sighted land again. They sailed toward it and came to an island. From there they sailed into the sound that was between the island and the mainland. There they landed and explored thoroughly the territory to which Leif gave the name "Vinland11 (11Wineland11) because his German companion Tyrkir found that grapes were growing there. According to Eir1ks saga Rau a, on Leif s return from "Vinland," Thorfinn Karlsefni sailed to 11Vinland. " He had three ships. _Leif's brothers, Thorstein and Thorvald, also took part in the exploration of "Vin1and. 11 Thorvald was killed by the natives. By 1013 A. D., three groups of Greenlanders had settled in 11Vinland. 11 Then the 11Vinland11 episode ended.

6 164 Radzin 5 V. The Name "Vinland" In Leif's crew was a German whose name was Tyrkir. He went on his own to explore the new country. When he returned, he spoke for a long time in German, moving his eyes in all directions. No one could understand what he was saying. After a while, he spoke in Icelandic and said that he had found vines (vinvi ) and grapes (vinber). He said that he was sure that he had found grapes. was born, there were plenty of vines and grapes. Where he Leif's men gathered grapes and vines. They decided to spend a winter in the new country and built some large houses. There was never any frost all winter. The grass hardly withe red at a 11. In the spring, the tow-boat was fi 11 ed with grapese. They took on a full cargo of timber and sailed away. Leif named the country after its wild grapes and called it 11Vinland. 11 The Old Icelandic word for "grape.. is 11Vinber... VI. Was There a Real "Vinland? 1 There has been much discussion pertaining to the

7 165 Radzin 6 reality of 11Vinland.11 The earliest historical statement pertaining to 11Vinland" is made by Adam of Bremen in his Descriptio Insularum Aguilonis, chapter 38. He states that he heard of "Vinland" from King Swen Estri<Jsson, who died in The land is called 11Vinland11 because vines grow there naturally, producing the best wine. Voyages to America in search of timber were continued by the Greenlanders even after the Norsemen period had ended. The entry in the SkAlholt Annals shows that the Greenlanders still made voyages to Markland (Newfoundland) in the fourteenth century. Another record of a Greenlander expedition in the northern regions of North America is in the runic inscription on the i land of Kingiktorsoak. In 1961, the Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad stated the results of his study at the excavation site on the northern part of Newfoundland, near the fishing village of L'Anse aux Meadows. The foundations of nine structures from the period of Norsemen had been found. There is no proof that the Newfoundland site was Leif Eiriksson s

8 166 Radzin 7 "Vinland." Some evidence on Norsemen in North America comes from zoology. Zoologists have found specimens of a sea snail, Littorina littorea, at a site at Halifax, Nova Scotia. This sea snail is not considered to have been native during the Norsemen period. It is possible that the snail was imported from Iceland or Norway. It has been stated that Leif Eiriksson s settlement of "Vinland1 1 must have been in New England, if grapes could grow there. Some scholars have suggested that the Old Icelandic word "vinber11 could mean cranberries that grow in Newfoundland. Others maintain that the period of Norsemen voyages coincided with milder climate in northern latitudes Considering the estimated dates of the Old Icelandic manuscripts of Eirf ks saga Rau a and Groenlendinga Pattr, it can be maintained that three or more centuries had passed since the voyages were made to 11Vinland.11 During this perio some fictitious elements had been added to the historic accounts. The genuineness of the voyages to

9 167 Radzin 8 "Vinland" is established by the accurate reporting of some details in the sagas--the wild grapes and corn. Later explorers, Jacques Cartier, Champlain, Hudson, and others found wild grapes and corn on the mainland of America. The authors of the Old Icelandic sagas call the natives of 11Vinland11 ''Scrallingar.11 In later accounts of exploration of the mainland of America, these natives are called "Indians... According to the Old Icelandic 11Eirfks saga Rauaa and Groenlendinga "'f:l ttr,11 the mainland of America was discovered by the Norsemen some 500 years before Co 1 umbu s. Hilda Radzin St. John's University

10 168 NOTES 1 E. and F. Jonsson, ed., 11Eir1ks saga Rau8a," in Hauksbok, (Copenhagen, ). Radzin 9 2 Vigf6sson and Unger, ed., "Groenlendinga Pattr," in Flateyjarb6k, (Christiania, 1860).